Chapter 4 - Two Piña Coladas

Disclaimer: Anything associated with the lord of the rings is not mine, in any way shape or form. Thank you.

Aragorn and Legolas stood there a while, not sure of what to do.

"Dam woman," Aragorn muttered as he started trudging across the fields.

"You called?"

Aragorn and Legolas wheeled around. Black had come up, riding a dark bay horse and leading two other chestnuts behind her.

"Where did you come from?" Aragorn asked.

"Better yet, where did she go?" Legolas mumbled. Black shot him a look from under her hood.

"At the rate we were going through the forest we'd never have made it to Rivendell on time," said Black. "So I borrowed a few horses."

"Borrowed?" said Legolas, eyeing her skeptically. "Don't you mean stole?"

"That depends on your definition of stealing," Black answered.

"Taking something without the consent of the owner and with no intention of bringing it back," Legolas retorted.

"Fine!" Black growled, throwing the reins at the Elf. "So I stole them. Get on the dam horse."

Red was singing again, but Blue didn't mind it much now for some reason. Perhaps it was because she was still somewhat in awe of what Green had called the 'sea.' She had heard of the sea before, barely. It was just something mentioned in whispers or whims by passing Elves. But it was incredibly beautiful.

"Well I was feelin' the blues, I was watching these dudes, when this fella came into the bar," sang Red. "He said I'm tellin' you, that science has proven that heartaches are healed by the sea."

Blue was beginning to like this song.

"Well that got me going, without even known' I packed right up and rode down," Red went on. "Now I'm on a roll and I swear to my soul, tonight I'm gonna paint this town.

"So bring me two piña coladas, one for each hand. Let's set sail with Captain Morgan, and never leave dry land. Hey troubles I forgot 'em, I buried 'em in the sand. So bring me two piña coladas, he said goodbye to his good-timin' gal.

"Oh now I've gotta say that the wind and the waves and the moon winkin' down at me, eases my mind, by leavin' behind the heartaches that love often brings.

"Now I've got a smile that goes on for miles, with no inclination to roam. I've gotta say that I think I'll stay, 'cause this is feelin' more and more like home.

"So bring me two piña coladas, I gotta have one for each hand. Let's set sail with Captain Morgan, and never leave dry land. Hey troubles I forgot 'em, I buried 'em in the sand. So bring me two piña coladas, he said goodbye to his good-timin' gal."

Red continued to hum the chorus as Blue continued to walk along the shoreline.

"How far is it?" Blue asked.

"Can't say for sure," Green answered. "Haven't been there in a while."

"Green?" Red said suddenly.

"What?"

"What's a piña colada?"

Black rode at a gallop across the plains with her eyes closed. She didn't even care that her hood had been blown back. This was the one place she could ever be remotely happy: on a horse.

Legolas watched the woman riding in front of him, her long mahogany hair billowing out behind her, the pack with the wooden staff and various other weapons attached to it rising and falling in time with the horse's stride.

He hated her. How could she be so happy, so pleased with herself when he was so miserable? She knew where Aluhin was and constantly denied him the same knowledge. Why? Why did she want to keep him parted from her?

"Legolas!"

The Elf tore his eyes off the woman's back just in time to see a charging Warg and shoot it down with a quick twang of his bow.

Another Warg came up behind Legolas and he was soon engaged in a battle with two evil wolves.

Aragorn had his own problems as a Warg broadsided him off of his horse and decided to go after the slower moving man rather than chase the horse down.

Black smelled the wretched animals before Aragorn ever called out. She wheeled her horse around to see that the Elf was fighting off two Wargs, still in the saddle, while Aragorn was wrestling it out with one on foot.

The woman grabbed the spear (still in progress, but still useable) on her back and charged toward the Ranger.

She rode by and skewered the beast with one swift stroke. She came back around, snatched the spear from the dead thing's body, switched it for a long sword, and headed toward the Elf.

The Warg saw her coming out of the corner of its eye, but was not quick enough to attack. Before it knew what exactly had happened, it was on the ground. Black jumped off her horse, told it to stay there, and beckoned the wounded Warg over to her. With a sword in each hand, the creature was hesitant to approach the woman.

"Come on, you mutant bag of fur and slime," she chided. The Warg charged.

Black battled the Warg for a minute or two, tired of it, threw a fireball in its face then finished it off.

When she looked up again, the Elf and the Ranger were watching her. She blew the hair out of her face indignantly, wiped her weapons off and returned them to their proper places. Then she went over to her horse, mounted it, and rode off to retrieve Aragorn's runaway colt.

"At least they didn't have riders," Aragorn, cleaning his own blade, said.

"Yeah," Legolas agreed feebly, but he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that the Warg hadn't mortally wounded the woman .

Soon Black came riding back and handed the reins of the relatively calm chestnut horse back to Aragorn.

"Next time," she said, a little out of breath, "try to take a little more care of your horse."

Aragorn stared at her.

"What?" the woman demanded. "Never seen scar tissue before?"

Black had a large and rather ugly scar jutting across her face, beginning just above her right eyebrow and ending at the corner of her mouth. Numerous other cuts and marks littered her pale, stretched skin, and the Ranger couldn't seem to take his eyes off them.

"Do you take pride in such markings?" asked the Elf.

Black rounded on him, and Legolas involuntarily withdrew. He did not remember the scars on the woman's face to be so deep, so numerous, so fresh.

"What are you staring at, Fairy-boy?" the woman snarled. "You've seen my face before." She flashed a gruesome grin. "And didn't you know? Scars are just tattoos...with better stories."